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Topic: Bday party question...late guests (Read 4037 times)

One of the guests RSVP'd in the positive but added "you know I might be late ."

Thing is, this is an activity and it's difficult to add players once game has started so I responded with "That's fine but the kids might have to sit out the first game if they are late. The game will start @ X:00. They can play the 2nd game if they aren't too late. I hope that's okay."

Not rude at all, you are letting them know useful information about the parties agenda. They have the information ahead of time so they won't be surprised when they show up and have to wait to join in, not can they question why you didn't wait for them (which would be rude, but being on this board has taught me anything is possible!).

Not sure how long the game will last. It varies. They may have to sit out 30mins or so.

I'm going to give everyone enough time to get there and not start the game until 15 mins after party start time but any later than that, and they will have to sit out. It's just not fair to the others if I mess up the game. Plus, the child with the highest score gets a special prize and if they miss out on one game, they won't win. I'm hoping they make it on time! I'd almost rather they miss the party than show up late. That's why I wanted to give a direct response to let her know how important the start time is.

I like your wording and wish I had done something like you did. A few years ago we did a train theme party at a park with a real steam train that does 30 minute rides on weekends. The plan was party starts at 1pm, at 1:30pm everyone gets on the train. then cake and presents and at 2:50 we put pennies on the track and the 3:00 train will flatten them, (this was approved and suggested by the train employees and included at 10 minute child oriented safety lesson about trains and train tracks.) This would then end the party. One of my sisters and her kids had said that they were going to be a little late and I didn't want them to miss the train trip so we switched things around pennies first, train ride second at 2pm. So the party starts, 3/4 hour passes we are handing out the tickets and conductor hats and they call to say they are in the parking lot. I told them great, park and run strait to the train I have their tickets. 10 minutes go by...still not there...5 minutes...and we still can't see them.We are the only ones on the train and the conductor very nicely volunteers to wait another 5 minutes. It seems they weren't in the parking lot they were at the entrance to the park which was a short drive from the parking lot. The train people were great and waited for them to come running on. The waiting put a damper on the kids excitement and dug into our cake and ice cream time. I have decided that for parties with time sensitive activities I will be putting the details in the invite and then people will get to do the things they are on time for. If someone misses something I am not going to punish the rest of my guests because one guest can't make it on time.

Laser tag tournament type game. The party place host said if guests were late we could wait for them as they run the game is done on points and it would be disruptive to add late players but I wanted to start the game right on time. Luckily, they weren't late and all was well. Actually, the kids had so much fun they played extra games. What was supposed to be a 2hr party turned into a 3hr party but it all worked out in the end. I'm glad I was direct and will continue to use that approach.